


Finding Loyalty

by Wishfulthinking1979



Series: The Fox and the Lady [3]
Category: Star Wars Original Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Action, Angst, But Piett can throw a punch, Developing Friendships, Drama, Fox hasn't had a team in a while, He can respect that, He's not quite sure what to do with these people
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-11
Updated: 2020-09-11
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:07:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,880
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26400886
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wishfulthinking1979/pseuds/Wishfulthinking1979
Summary: Commander Fox joins the Senior officials for a Coruscant meeting. Naturally, being in the Senate building once more is not easy....in more ways than one.
Relationships: cc-1010 |Fox and Firmus Piett
Series: The Fox and the Lady [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1918327
Comments: 8
Kudos: 72





	Finding Loyalty

**Author's Note:**

  * For [morwen_of_gondor](https://archiveofourown.org/users/morwen_of_gondor/gifts).



> Fox is slowly figuring out his place. But he doesn't give a kriff for leaders who don't lead. Never has, never will. How will the officers of the Executor stand up to his scrutiny?

If there was an armpit to this galaxy (and there absolutely  _ was _ ) Coruscant was it. 

Oh sure, people tried to claim it was so very sophisticated and cutting edge. The place where power was kept and the course of history decided.

Fox laughed at these imaginary people inside his head.

One clone with a blaster could change history.  _ Had _ , when you thought about it. 

Fives. Order 66. 

And there you have it, gentlebeings. You can think that you decide how the history books will be written and what will go in them..... 

But individuals provide the turning points. Oh sure, all those individuals can be working together ( _ why you created the clones wasn’t it you conniving, slaving Force users? _ ) but even so---it is individuals who stand out in history books.

And there he was again, rummaging around in the dark and horrifying places in his mind.

Fox shook this off with effort and focused on his surroundings. They had returned for the yearly summit held at Coruscant. The New Republic was keen to be inclusive, and at least seen as listening to the concerns of all the little backwaters in the galaxy. 

And yeah, he knew he was being cynical about it all, but kriff, he had good reason. He knew that Mon Mothma was supposed to be a good leader---the princess spoke very highly of her---but she was still one woman. 

And there were many beings like her, said the tiny hopeful part of his brain. He didn’t listen to that part often.

_ Though you did when you decided to throw your lot in with this very New Republic _ , said that part of his brain. 

Regardless, he was not the only one who really hated this planet. 

Interestingly, most of the senior leadership on the Lady had a general air of distaste when they were summoned. As there were no urgent battles to be fought or pressing need for the Lady to be elsewhere, to Coruscant they went. 

Veers had been at his very stiffest---Iron General to the utter kriffing core and Fox had shut up and just led his security detail. 

He did some more thorough homework into that incident of the trial* on his data pad while they took the shuttle to the surface.

Well. 

Yes, indeed. No wonder they all hated it so much. And that wasn’t even counting the fact that half of them would have to spend time in a room with Fey’lya. 

Fox had discovered just how delightful the Bothan senator could be after watching some holovids. 

But that aside, he understood many little things now about the reaction of the Senior leadership for the Lady.

_ Young Skywalker’s reluctance to leave his Father alone on the ship. (The General would not be joining them on the surface for many reasons. Fox thought he was the lucky one) _

_ The princess’s closeness to her Admiral on the shuttle, and Piett’s notable wearing of his blaster with his dress uniform. (Veers too) _

_ At one point the General had leaned over to his friend and only Fox overheard him murmur, “Sure you didn’t want the saber, Firmus? You could get away with it as the Fleet Admiral.” _

_ Piett’s swift smile to that suggestion. “Don’t tempt me, Max.” _

_ All of them facing the front of the Senate much like they had faced that firing squad a year or so ago. _

_ But then----Fox realized he was facing it that way, too.  _

So then. He appreciated that he was in good company when it came to his distaste for the capitol. 

While they were in session, the Senate guards were on duty. Fox could respect that. He had two hours to kill before moving discreetly behind the General to watch his back once more. So it was that he found himself looking for the bowels of the massive complex. 

Could he still access it? Did he know the secrets?

It turned out he could. He went down dim and deserted hallways, his memory effortlessly falling into old patterns. His office was this way…..

He paused at the window. It looked very spartan and tidy. Not all that different to be honest, from how he had kept it. Ghosts of his men floated in and out, giving reports, laughing about a senatorial mishap. Innumerable cups of bad caf and shared camaraderie….

Perhaps this had been a mistake. 

Fox straightened and continued down the winding corridors. There was a way to exit the building at the back. It wasn’t secret per say, but since it was not commonly used, he imagined he was one of a few beings that actually knew about it. 

And it was there still. He really should inform the current security personnel about it. No guards to speak of, and he didn’t think he even saw security cameras or sensors. 

Yes, the Empire had been a hive of teeming paranoia and murder, but they did know their security equipment. Fox allowed himself a sardonic smile at his own dark humor and stepped outside into the late afternoon sun. It was murkier down here at the street level, but still better than the stifling hold of old memories.

He sighed and found one of the benches that had been placed back here for those that knew of it. He unstrapped his vambraces and cuirass and laid them on the bench beside him. 

_ Force, he hadn’t realized how difficult this was going to be.  _

His life had been difficult for many reasons---he expected that. But this flood of memory….

Fox realized that he’d been staring into space when abruptly numerous pairs of legs were in his line of vision and he looked up. 

And into some very unfriendly looking faces.

“Clone aren’t ya?” said the one closest to him.

_ Oh Force, did these di’kute really want to start something with him? _

“Does it matter?” he asked curtly, rising.

This clearly alarmed them and they immediately ratcheted up the aggression. 

“Does to me. Does to the numerous friends that died at the hands of you and your ilk.”

_ Oh marvellous. Separatist Veterans. _

“I’m not here to revisit old disagreements.”

They laughed bitterly.

“ _ Disagreements _ ? I think we can all agree it was a bit more than that, clone.”

Clone. Like he was a thing.

_ Rage stirred in his chest. But he was here on Veers’ security detail and he would not disgrace that by jumping into a fight.  _

“It was. But I’m not going to fight about it now.”

Several more beings came into the area to join his aggressors. This street was very quiet--not likely that he would get any bystanders to step in.

_ Kriff this could get bad. He certainly couldn’t shoot them. One to eight was not good odds.  _

“Maybe  _ you’re _ not. But I lost a lot of good men cause o’ you.”

They were circling him like a pack now. Fox could handle numerous opponents. But he couldn’t shoot them, which immediately made this a more difficult situation.

They went for him and the scuffle was surprisingly silent. They wanted to hurt---they were intent. The curses were spat softly and at last, two of them had either arm and another drove a fist into his unprotected abdomen.

Well. It hurt. But he bet the princess could hit harder.

Before another blow could be struck however, a mild voice interrupted their proceedings.

“If you release the Commander now, both of us might be inclined to forget this incident.”

All of them whipped their heads around to see the composed figure of the Admiral ( _ and how in the nine hells had he found his way here? _ ) regarding them with cold hazel eyes. 

“Just because you’re in uniform Imp don’t mean we won’t deal with you as well.”

_ Imp? Clone? Did these bastards want to get themselves killed? Fox was rethinking the ‘no blaster’ policy. _

But astonishingly, Piett was removing his cap and setting it neatly on the bench. His own sidearm had been surrendered at the entrance to the Senate building. 

_ And what precisely was this diminutive Admiral hoping to accomplish against hulking Separatist veterans? Not that Fox didn’t appreciate the gesture but….. _

Several men chuckled as the Admiral undid the clasps on his jacket as well.

“Well. Let me remove any barriers you may have then and you can give your best go at ‘dealing’ with me. Because that is one of my men and I don’t take kindly to the level of cowardice you’re demonstrating here, beating on him in a backstreet.”

_ Well. Big words from his short commander. Fox was not looking forward to having to defend him somehow as well.  _

He could see the rage building as the group’s attention was on the Admiral, who was calmly laying his uniform jacket on the bench that Fox had vacated.

Fox took the moment to head butt the man to his left, releasing himself from his grasp and then he swung powerfully at the one on his right, lifting him off of his feet with the force of his blow.

He turned to help the Admiral and nearly stopped moving he was so staggered.

Piett had clearly taken down two of them already and was dodging the meaty blows of third adroitly, before darting in swiftly to give him two well placed jabs in the solar plexus and a solid punch to the throat to follow up.

The man went down, gasping.

_ Stars above. The Fleet Admiral knew how to fight. _

Fox, heartened by this, turned his attention fully to putting his own attackers out of commission. 

He took a few blows himself and was pretty sure he had a cracked rib when it was finally quiet except for the groaning of the men lying in the street. He turned, panting, to Piett who was gazing back at him steadily, breathing hard himself and unharmed though…..

...well that was going to be a lovely black eye.

“Thank you for the assist, sir.”

The Admiral smiled at him. “My pleasure, Commander.”

“If I could ask, Admiral, where did you come from?”

Piett gestured above him. 

“Balcony up there. I….needed some fresh air and saw your little meeting taking place here. The fire stairs are remarkably silent when they deploy.”

Apparently. They had disappeared already back into their storage under the balcony.

“I think we can leave the trash here for collection, Commander Fox,” said the Admiral mildly, shrugging his jacket back on and doing up the catches before picking up his cap. 

Fox gathered his cuirass and vambraces. “Sir…..that eye is going to get some comment.”

Piett touched it gently. “Well, worth it, frankly.”

Fox considered the situation. 

“If it’s still operating, there was a med bay down here sir, that I used back in the day. We could see about some bacta to lessen the ah….impact that’s going to have on our people.”

“ _ Our _ people?” the Admiral said, with a little curl to the side of his mouth as they went back inside the Senate building. 

_ How else was he supposed to refer to them? He was security. They were his people. It wasn’t anything to do with sentiment for kriff’s sake. _

“Yes, sir,” he said coolly, and didn’t elaborate as he led the way back through the passages toward his old office and the other rooms located there.

And happily, the med bay was indeed intact. The lights came on as they entered, and Fox began rummaging for bacta patches and shots. 

“Does that happen often?” Piett asked abruptly after a few minutes of silence. 

Fox could pretend to be ignorant about what he was asking, but he knew. And he really wasn’t interested in having personal conversations. Piett seemed like a good man. But he couldn’t possibly understand what it was like to have that sort of prejudice directed at him. 

He found what he was looking for and handed the Admiral a bacta patch and bacta injection before looking for the same things himself. 

“How much time do we have until the recess, sir?” he asked, injecting the bacta shot near the cracked rib.

Piett finished placing the bacta patch under his eye and then looked over at him. “Roughly an hour. A little less.”

He seemed pale to Fox, but then maybe he was always….no. The way he was moving and the slight squint….

“Sir….” Fox began carefully, “do you have a….headache?”

Piett sighed and took a seat at the desk. “I am somewhat prone to migraines, Commander.”

“I’d frankly be surprised if you weren’t, Admiral,” Fox found himself saying and realized that was, perhaps a bit too familiar. He didn’t know his new superior officer well enough yet to fully extend the snark.

“Apologies, sir, I….”

“It’s all right,” Piett interrupted. “You know who I work for. Let me assure you this is much better than it used to be. And in fairness, this one is not the fault of anyone from the Lady.”

_ Fey’lya then. Had to be. _

Fox found the hypo with the painkiller and handed it over.

Piett smiled wryly. “Thank you, but this one requires some intense medication which I ill advisedly left in my satchel. Which is still in the Senate chambers.”

“They should have triptan shots in here, Admiral, let me see….”

Fox rummaged some more. 

“Here we are.”

Piett took it, studying him before injecting it and breathing a sigh of relief. 

“Do you suffer from migraines then, Commander?”

“Happily no sir, though you would think so after all the Senatorial poodoo that I….” he stopped again, in uncertain territory. 

“Ah, lots of the Senators did, Admiral, so I usually had a small medkit on my belt for various things.”

Piett was silent and Fox could feel the man watching him. 

“You don’t have to censor your memories, Commander. I’d be interested in your experiences with ‘Senatorial poodoo’,” Piett said quietly.

He didn’t need pity, even from a man he respected.

“Thank you, sir, but I’m not sure that you need to hear that. And...with all due respect sir, I appreciate what you’re trying to do, but you don’t need to.”

“What exactly, do you think I’m trying to do, Commander Fox?” 

_ Kriff, he had that eyebrow raised and the deceptively mild expression that he had already learned covered a sharp and tactical mind. _

“I…..” what was wrong with him? He didn’t stammer. Of course, he actually  _ liked _ this man and…..had he just  _ had _ that thought? He was  _ not _ in the business of liking co-workers or superior officers. 

_ Fox was direct. Always had been—even with superior officers.  _

“Sir, you don’t need to feel sorry for me, so if you’re trying to make me feel….. included…”

Piett  _ snorted. _

“Commander. You are one of my men. I am not coddling you if that’s what your concern is. But I do like to know who I’m working with. And you didn’t answer my earlier question—- does that sort of clone prejudice happen often?”

_ Not on the Lady. But elsewhere…. _

“It’s fine, sir. All of us have to deal with things like that at some point. You’re from the Outer Rim, sir. I would think you have some experience with that.”

Piett was clearly remembering some things. 

“Mm. Well. I want to know if you ever hear that on my ship, Commander.”

“Sir. You have the 501st on the Lady. I’m fairly confident you won’t hear it. But….thank you.”

Another pause as they both waited for the bacta to work. Fox was curious about the man who led their fleet. Files only said so much….

“Admiral. May I ask you something?”

“Go ahead, Commander.”

“Where did you learn to fight like that, sir? I’ve worked with many senior officials over the years. I’ve  _ never _ seen a Fleet Admiral do what you just did.”

Piett gave him a slight smile. 

“Thank you Commander. The credit belongs to General Veers. I’ve trained with him for some years now. When one doesn’t have the gift of an imposing stature, one finds other ways to use it.”

Those hazel eyes were dancing rather devilishly. The Admiral used that small frame to utterly disarm his opponents then. Fox appreciated good strategy.

He found himself grinning at Piett. “I’ll bet they never see you coming, sir.”

“Not usually, no,” Piett replied calmly, eyes still sharing the joy of battle with Fox. 

Fox had never felt any particular loyalty to Palpatine. He had absolutely taken his job seriously--it was his life after all. But his loyalty lay sideways---to his brothers, his guard. The Senators were, for the most part, the job. There were exceptions such as Padme’ Amidala and there had been a time when he respected General Skywalker……

But Fox had served the faceless Empire.

When his chip had been disabled however, Fox had the awful realization that he didn’t know what, or who, he served. Once again---memories he didn’t want to face at the moment.

The point was: this man-- sitting with him in an out of the way medbay with bacta patches because he had defended Fox---this was a man he could follow. He had known he could do so with General Veers. 

He would absolutely do so for Admiral Piett as well. 

**Author's Note:**

> *Fidelity


End file.
